Current Events

It’s true that it costs more to mint these two coins than they are worth. In 2017, it cost the U.S. Mint 1.8 cents to make each penny and 6.6 cents for each nickel. Overall, however, the Mint is a profit machine. In 2017, it earned almost $400 million in profits producing circulating coins. For every dollar’s worth of coins it shipped out, the Mint made 45 cents. That is a profit margin many business owners dream about.

So, think of pennies and nickels as the Mint’s loss leader … Eliminating pennies and nickels could make people think coins overall aren’t useful…

The Royal Canadian Mint, which is the official maker of the country’s money, has said the commemorative Australian series, which celebrates the classic Mem Fox children’s book Possum Magic, ripped off its unique process of painting colour onto metal.

A lawsuit was filed in the Australian Federal Court in December over half a million Remembrance Day $2 coins which featured red poppies. It has now been expanded to include the Possum Magic $2 coins…

In cities across the country on Thursday, people lined up in order to get their hands on the new specially minted five-euro coin.

Highly sought after for their innovative design, an orange, translucent polymer ring encircles the centre of the coin, separating it from its outer ring. The unique material makes the coin much more difficult to counterfeit, with the plastic ring easy to recognize with the naked eye and difficult to reproduce.

The series began in 2017 and one coin is to be issued each year until 2021. The 2018 edition is called “Subtropical Zone” while last year’s edition was called “Tropical Zone” and had a red polymer ring.

Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency

“Prior to the Facebook controversy, we were developing a suite of technologies to help individuals reclaim their personal data from corporate entities and to have full transparency and control over how their personal data are used,” a spokesperson said. “We were exploring multiple options for people to manage and monetize their personal data, including blockchain technology.”

Stefánsson had been in custody since Feb. 2 on suspicion of his involvement in a series of burglaries, wherein 600 PCs, 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs, and 100 CPU processors had been taken from data centers involved in cryptocurrency mining in the South West and North West of Iceland. The burglaries took place from Dec. 5 2017 to Jan. 16, 2018.

The aggregate value of the stolen items was estimated at 200 million krónur, or $1,990,000. Iceland Magazine called the incident “one of the largest criminal cases in Icelandic history.”

The investigation will attempt to shed more transparency on how platforms combat market manipulation attempts and suspicious trading, as well as bots, theft, and fraud. Many of the exchanges Schneiderman is targeting, such as Beijing-based Huobi, have headquarters located outside the US, but the attorney general has jurisdiction over any foreign business operating in New York…

Dutchman Martijn Wismeijer is very cautious when it comes to storing bitcoin – so much so that in 2014, he had two NFC (near-field communication) chips surgically implanted into each hand to store his encrypted bitcoin keys.

While the method may seem drastic, Bitcoin security is an important issue. Reportedly up to 23% of all Bitcoin has already been irreversibly lost, leading people to take their security very seriously indeed.

He had the procedure done at a body piercing studio, which he recommends to anyone wishing to have the procedure done. The chips are manufactured from glass and measure 2mm x 12mm end to end, the size of a small grain of rice. Wismeijer said the process was less painful than an IV drip injection, and pointed out that the procedure is commonly carried out on household pets with no issues…

[WARNING: The following link is for a video of the procedure on YouTube. There is no blood, but those with a fear of needles may wish to avoid watching as these people receive the mark of the beas… uh, their subdermal bitcoin wallets: https://bit.ly/2F400aL —CoinWeek]

Kelly compares Bitcoin to early Internet companies Cisco and Microsoft, equating Bitcoin with Cisco’s router and Internet protocols. However, Kelly underlines that it is incorrect to think of Bitcoin as a company or a stock:

“This is an open source software, you can’t think of it as a company, and that’s where people make their mistake […] This is not a stock, this is not a company.”

Under the Radar

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) [has launched] … April 16, a gold coin with the theme “330 years since the Bible was printed in Bucharest,” according to a press release issued by the editorial board…

News Wire Crime & Punishment

A long-time PNG dealer (who wants to remain anonymous) says his company has seen a significant increase in the number of attempted, fraudulent credit card purchases coming from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. These attempts are apparently linked to a source or sources in Venezuela and involve stolen credit card numbers.

The attempted purchases were made via the company’s online store and online ordering system. Some attempted fraudulent credit card purchases appeared to be “tests” with the buyer trying to order only $100 of merchandise, but other attempts involved orders for $1,000 of merchandise.

Any dealer who has experienced a recent influx of suspicious orders or purchases with stolen credit cards please contact NCIC.

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Please contact the NCIC’s Doug Davis if you have any questions or information about any of the cases above. You can reach him at (817) 723-7231 or email him at doug@numismaticcrimes.org.

A gold, coin and gun shop owner opened fire as a thief fled his Everett store Friday afternoon, according to Everett police.

The thief jumped into a car carrying valuables he’d stolen from the shop around 4:30 p.m. in the 5800 block of Evergreen Way, officer Aaron Snell said. The pawn shop owner fired at least one round, but it’s unclear if he fired at the vehicle or into the air.

Officers tracked down the vehicle nearby and arrested a passenger, who was suspected of being the thief…

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked the federal government to withdraw from circulation, the N100 notes printed during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement by Ishaq Akintola, its director, the group alleged that the N100 notes of Jonathan government were inferior and had no Arabic Ajami inscriptions. MURIC wondered why Ajami was removed from some notes with the assumption of office by a Christian president…

Seychelles’ richest bank note — the 500 rupee note — was released into circulation in December 2016 and is worth about $37. SNA takes a closer look at seven of the endemic flora and fauna found on the yellow, brown and black note…

Metal Detecting, Treasure & Archaeology

Modern day treasure hunters will gather at the Mayborn Convention and Activity Center in Temple this weekend as the Texas Association of Metal Detecting Clubs hosts the Texas Treasure Show. Admission is $3 at the door, and kids 12 and under get in free.

Museums & Exhibits

Artist John W. Jones researched and documented over 126 images of slavery that were depicted on Confederate and Southern States money. The juxtaposition of the framed Confederate currencies with the acrylic paintings inspired by the slave images on the currencies makes a very powerful statement on the contribution of enslaved Africans to the American economy…